Off the Bandwagon
by RicardianScholar Clark-Weasley
Summary: set after Blame it on the Alcohol. a collection of oneshots where Will Schuester is called by drunken Glee members who had broken the pact.
1. Rachel

Out of all the people to fall of the bandwagon Will Schuster never thought it would be Rachel Berry.

It was 2.35 am in the morning, he only had two hours sleep due to all the marking he had to do, when the his phone broke into his dreams by ringing loudly. "Hello?" he yawned.

"Mr Schue?" Rachel slurred.

"Rachel?"

"I'm sorry Mr Schue, I couldn't help myself," Rachel said still slurring her words, "I wanted to forget and now I can't remember where I live."

He shot out of bed and began to search for a pair of trousers. "Where are you Rachel?"

"I'm at the school, I didn't know where else to go and now I'm scared," Rachel whimpered, "it's too dark and I think someone was following me."

"I'm on my way Rachel just wait at the bleachers and I'll be there in ten minutes, I promise," Will said quickly as he yanked on his shirt that he chucked with terrible aim at the laundry basket earlier.

"You promise?"

"I promise," Will repeated reassuringly. "I won't let you down."

"That'll be a first," Rachel muttered and then the phone went dead and all Will could hear was a flat beep.

He moved even faster to put his shoes on and snatch his car keys up.

GLEEGLEEGLEEGLEE

He found her sitting in the middle of the bleachers. she was wearing a tank top and short skirt which was highly unpractical in the chilly climate and he could see that she was shivering before he was anywhere near her. He took his jacket off and wrapped it round her shoulders.

"Thanks," she muttered before shrugging it off with a sudden movement of her arm. She was holding a bottle of vodka and took a big swig. "Want some?"

"No thank you," Will said picking his jacket up and placing it back on Rachel's shoulders. "What happened to you, Rachel? I had thought you were the strongest of the Glee Club."

"Really?" Rachel said bitterly. "I go through shit day in and day out. I get nothing but _shit_, from the bullies, from the geeks, from my own _friends_. Finn breaks up with me and gets with Quinn never minding the fact that Quinn had done worse than I ever had. Every time I open my mouth someone tells me to shut up or insults me, all my ideas are apparently wrong, never mind that my idea won us the Regional's you still all thought I was wrong at the time. And _you_! You do _nothing_! You are the worst of them all because you just stand there and let them call me horrible names and put me down all the time. So why should I be the strongest? Why should I stop myself from taking a drink now and then? I think I have more right to drink myself to dreamless sleep more than any of the others!"

She took another swig from the bottle and Will stared at her in astonishment. He never interfered in her little bantering matches with the other Glee members. He often thought it was teasing amongst friends and when it turned a little harsh he thought Rachel would appreciate him to stay out of it because it would be practise for the backstabbing of show business.

That and Rachel was so bright and strong that you almost forget that she's only sixteen in high school.

"Give me that bottle Rachel, you had enough," Will said sternly when he finally found his voice.

Rachel shakily attempted to hand him the bottle but miscalculated the distance between his and her hands. The bottle shattered loudly in the quiet night. "Sorry," Rachel slurred and then she started to cry.

"It's ok, it doesn't matter, please don't cry Rachel," Will murmured as he pulled her into his arms, "it's just vodka, no need to cry over spilt vodka," he said weakly trying to make a joke. She just cried harder. "Rachel please,"

She pulled away and sniffled. "What can you do when your good isn't good enough? When all that you touches tumbles down? 'Cause my best intentions keep making a mess of things, I just want to fix things somehow," she sang rather out of tune for someone with her talent.

Will smiled sadly at her, "Let's get you home Rachel," he said standing up and offering her his hand to help her up.

"I don't want to go home," Rachel murmured, "My Dads aren't there and I feel lonely...can I stay with you?"

Will felt a sudden conflict of emotions, the urge to protect Rachel, wariness because knowing his luck Sue still has his placed bugged, anger because it was Rachel's fathers' absence that caused the first drink binge for the whole club, and pity because she was so very alone in the world.

"Please," Rachel said tears still clinging to her eyelashes.

"My sofa is very comfortable," he said with a slight grin.

GLEEGLEEGLEEGLEE

Rachel stumbled and staggered into his apartment. She was still singing Get it Right off-key and very loudly. She tripped over her own feet and fell onto the couch giggling just as loudly. "The world is spinning Mr Schue!" she said in between giggles.

Will simply went to the kitchen, poured a glass of water and grabbed a packet of aspirins, he then walked back into the living room and handed them to Rachel who kicked her shoes off and was sitting up properly on the couch.

"Thanks," she said dribbling water all over herself, "I'm sorry for calling you the worst."

"That's ok, you were right," Will said watching her carefully in case she choked on the aspirin, "I should have stepped in more and been a better disciplinary. You were right about the original songs and you were radiant in Regional's."

Rachel grinned at him. "That's the nicest thing anyone has said to me since Finn broke up with me."

The saddest thing about that sentence other than the obvious? Finn had broken up with her almost six months ago.

Will gave her a comforting squeeze on the shoulder before dragging out his spare blanket and pillow. By the time he got back Rachel was half asleep on the sofa, he moved her gently to he could place the pillow behind her head and then he draped the blanket all over her.

"I'm sorry for being a pain," she mumbled.

"You're not a pain, I'm glad you phoned, I hate to think what happened if you didn't," Will said softly.

"Thank you...you're my favourite teacher, you do know that, right?" she said her eyes closing.

"You're one of my favourite students, just don't tell anyone."

She smiled in her sleep but it didn't stop the tear that was still running down her cheek. Will couldn't help but feel like a failure as a teacher. If he hadn't noticed Rachel Berry breaking under the pressure of bullying, then what else had he not noticed?


	2. Santana

It was once again 2.35 am in the morning when his phone rang.

If it had not been the fact he made a promise of always being there for the kids he would so have his phone turned off. With a groan he fumbled for the phone and answered, "Hello?"

"Mr Schue?"

"Santana?"

"Mr Schue, I'm scared," her voice was terribly vulnerable. She sounded innocent and young and nothing like the harsh cold teenager she was. "Some guys kept harassing me and I think they're looking for me. Could you come and get me?"

He was already out of bed the moment she said scared. "Where are you Santana?" he asked as he hurriedly put his clothes on.

"Behind Breadsticks. Please hurry, I don't know what to do," Santana confessed and Will inhaled sharply. It sounded like she was in tears. "Please."

"I'm on my way," Will promised before he hanged up and shoved his shoes on.

GLEEGLEEGLEEGLEE

He found Santana curled up behind a dustbin. She was obviously drunk and rather distraught as she threw her arms round him and cried into his shoulder for a solid two minutes. He could smell the whiskey on her and wondered what on earth was wrong with parents these days. Do they not lock their liquor cabinets at all?

After some coaxing and reassuring, Will managed to get Santana buckled into the car and drove back to his for some sobering up. "What made you break the pact?" he asked gently.

"None of your business," Santana said shortly.

"Santana," Will probed gently, "I won't tell anyone that you tell me. It'll be our little secret."

"There are no such things as secrets in McKinley, Mr Schue," Santana said softly. "You of all people should know that."

"This isn't McKinley, its two people in a car," Will pointed out.

"I...Don't really want to talk about it. Why do care, anyway? Is this all part of your act? You pretend to be nerdy and sweet so you can get into schoolgirl knickers? That's low and disgusting."

He stopped the car abruptly. They were already outside of his building but he had needed to park behind it in the lot instead of the middle of the street. "That is enough. I am a teacher simply trying to understand a difficult student who enjoys tormenting her peers even though they're in the same boat as her. Do you like calling Rachel names and saying hurtful things to her? Do you enjoy playing with everyone's love lives as if they're your dolls? Do you just enjoy being called a bitch? Because face it Santana the way you act it's a surprise that Brittany still likes you. In ten years time no one will care if you were a Cheerio or if you slept with all the boys in the school because it's not relevant in the real world."

To his horror Santana burst into tears all over again.

It took him longer to calm her down and even longer to convince her it would be all right for her to crash on his couch.

GLEEGLEEGLEEGLEE

"Do you think I'm pretty?"

She had let her hair down and was wearing one of his t-shirts over her skimpy clubbing outfit. All of her makeup was washed away and he could see the innocence in her dark eyes and the vulnerability all over her. She was suddenly very fragile and completely unlike the Santana he knew.

"Yes, I think all of you are pretty in your unique ways," he said before passing her a glass of water and an aspirin.

"Do you think I'm prettier than Quinn and Rachel?"

"You are in a different way," he said.

She growled. "You're not going to give a straight answer, are you? Just going to keep on being this wonderful fair and just teacher that you like to pretend to be. At least Coach Sylvester is brutally honest. She demoted me because she thought my boob job made me look cheap. You, you just like to pretend that we're all angelic and equal while really you like Rachel and Finn over all of us and you're probably shagging the man-hands as well."

"Santana!" Will shouted. "I am sick and tired of your attitude. You're acting like a spoilt brat over this. You're beautiful, you have an exotic look to you and you sing like an angel, happy now? The other girls all pale in comparison, everyone loves Santana. Is that what you want to hear?"

"No," Santana mumbled. She ducked her head down so her hair would cover her face and she looked rather ashamed of herself. "I just...they always prefer Quinn over me and she's just as bad. She purposely manipulates people into making fools of themselves and she had insulted Rachel just as much as I have and yet I'm the bad guy? It's not fair!"

"Coach Sylvester is right on one thing," Will said. "You didn't need the boob job. You are a very strong young woman at the prime of her life. You shouldn't have needed some plastic alterations make you feel better."

"Yes, I know, I know, Born This Way, yada, yada, whatever. I'm not like the others Mr Schue; I'm just a vain scared little girl who can't admit what she wants to the world. I'm not brave or anything."

"You are brave Santana, just in a different way," Will said. "Now go and get some sleep and everything will feel better in the morning."

"Fine," Santana said huffily. "But you have better not have had sex on that couch. I might be a bit of a slut but even I don't want to have almost sex with you and Miss Pillsbury."

Will wondered if it was morally right just to kick Santana out of his apartment altogether and get some real sleep. Instead he just rolled his eyes and told Santana to sleep before going to his own bed. He ended up laying there awake all night as Santana cried herself to sleep calling out for Brittany and telling her she was sorry.

It hurts that he couldn't think of a way to help the broken damage girl in the room next door.

Jesus, he must suck as a teacher, really he must.


	3. Sam

This time his phone didn't ring.

Instead there was a loud knock on his door and it didn't stop. It really wasn't fair; it might only be eleven o'clock but Will had been watching an Andrew Lloyd Webber marathon and while marking the latest load of Spanish pop quizzes. Students may think they were evil but teachers believe pop quizzes are a necessity spat out of hell.

"All right, all right, I'm coming," Will shouted at the door as he threw down his red pen, finally giving up marking Puck's terrible answers and heading towards the front door. He was surprised at the person who was standing there; he half expected it to be Terri (who never stops harassing him for more money) or Sue (who never stops harassing him full stop). Instead there stood..."Sam?"

"Sorry Mr Chu," Sam mumbled his words thick and slurred. "I don't have a phone anymore."

He was then promptly sick all over Will's bare feet.

Honestly, he doesn't get paid enough for this job.

GLEEGLEEGLEEGLEE

After spending two hours holding Sam's hair back as the boy vomited in his toilet it was a sudden relieve to go back to marking again. Sam was curled up on the sofa nursing a hot cup of coffee to sober him up again. It was quiet now, the sound of Christine and the Phantom hitting high notes was giving Sam a headache and Will couldn't appreciate the classical musical with a teenage boy groaning and moaning beside him.

"I really am sorry," Sam repeated himself again. "I just...I didn't have anywhere else to go to. And I no longer have a cell phone so I just...I didn't mean to puke on you. I just...well I was mixing drinks to get drunk quicker..."

"Why though Sam?" Will asked quietly. "You're a good kid."

"I...it's those rumours. I'm sick and tired of people trying to decide if I'm sleeping with Quinn or Kurt. I haven't touched either of them, they're just helping me. It's not fair, Mr Schue, can't someone be nice to someone else without there being any sex?"

"Of course they can Sam...But what on earth could they be helping you with in a motel room?"

Will had listened to the rumours as well and while he was sure that there was a perfectly reasonable and innocent explanation to it all. His main theory was it was simply Sue just making it all up. Despite his certainty that it was all innocent even he couldn't help but wonder what on earth Sam was doing in a motel room.

Sam mumbled something but Will was so caught up in his thoughts that he missed it completely. "I'm sorry, I didn't quite catch that."

"I live there! All right, happy now? I love in a small motel room with my parents, little sister and little brother. Kurt has been giving me clothes and Quinn has been helping me with the babysitting."

"Oh..."

"And now I just blew the rest of the money I had left on getting pissed so I can just forget the whole fucking thing for one bloody moment. My parents are going to kill me."

"Alcohol isn't the answer to everything Sam. Trust me, I've been drowning my sorrows and all it accomplished was creating more problems," Will said sternly falling into his teacher mode. "I would also lay of the foul language, I may be off duty but I'm still your teacher."

"Sorry Mr Schue," Sam mumbled looking ashamed of himself.

"I'm sorry about your home life Sam," Will said gently. "It's gotta be tough but you know you have us to rely on. We might not be able to help with much but we're here if you need someone to lean on."

"Thanks," Sam smiled a small shy smile and looked a little embarrassed.

"Stay here for the night. I assume your parents still have a cell, I could phone one of them for you and explain you had a little time to blow some steam off."

"Yeah they do...and thanks again Mr Schue."

Within half an hour Will had reassured Mr and Mrs Evans that their son was completely safe and he would take Sam to school in the morning. He then let Sam speak to them for a while and then sorted out some bedding for the boy. By the time Sam was settled to go to sleep Will finally, finally, finished his marking.

"Goodnight Sam."

"Night, Mr Schue...and...Mr Schue?"

"Yes Sam?"

"You totally rock as a teacher."

He went to sleep with a smile on his face and the next day he slipped some money to cover the costs of Sam's binge drinking and a bag of leftovers for the whole family. He spent most of the day cheerful and happy with himself because finally a success with one of his kids. His day got worse when the whole Glee club is obviously still believed in those stupid rumours.

He could not stop them interrogating Sam.

He could not stop them from pushing and pushing.

And he simply stood there while Sam spilled everything he was trying so hard to hide and he just done nothing to prevent him being questioned.

Sam was wrong. He didn't rock. He just totally sucked at being a teacher.


	4. Brittany

"Mr Shoe, the magic punch has told me I need to phone you and tell you that I lost my shoes, did you take them Mr Shoe? Because your name is Shoe you want my shoes? The magic punch also said I have to tell you that I lost me too."

If it was any other student that said that down the phone he would have thought it was a prank. However it was not any other student it was Brittany Pierce. Brittany the special child who thought things differently from other children. Well that's what teachers would say publicly when there were kids hovering around eavesdropping. Honestly the teaching staff was harsher about her behind closed doors calling her an airhead and retard. He defended her because he knew that when she put her mind to it she was very intelligent. After all no one else knows cat diseases like Brittany Pierce.

"Ok, Brittany, do you know where you are?"

"No Mr Shoe, I lost me, remember?"

"Could you tell me what you can see around you?"

"Yes Mr Shoe. I see Cinderella's pumpkin carriage, Pinocchio, and Sleeping Beauty's spinning wheel with the big pointy thing. Santana says it's symbol-thingy for a dick," Brittany said cheerfully.

"Ok, I know where you are Brittany, just stay there and wait for me, ok?"

"Yes Mr Shoe."

Sighing, Will hung up, and grabbed hold the pair of trousers he kept by his bed in case a Glee member got drunk. It was becoming a regular event and again it's a school night, where on earth are these parents? And how on earth did Brittany get onto the mini golf course completely pissed out of her mind? Well Will knew he was definitely catching up on his sleep during the next facility meeting.

He deserves it with all these extra hours he's working.

GLEEGLEEGLEEGLEE

He found Brittany talking to the cat model in the Alice in Wonderland hole. She was having an in-depth conversation on the best way to de-flea felines. It was not a nice conversation and Will had to suppress the urge to gag.

"Brittany," he called out loudly before Brittany moved onto dealing with feline constipation.

"Mr Shoe!" Brittany cried out delightedly before throwing herself into his arms. "I'm sorry Mr Shoe, I didn't mean to drink magic punch, and I thought it was normal punch but someone must have added the magic powder – like fairy dust! And Santana was nowhere to be found and I lost my shoes, did you take my shoes, Mr Shoe? You didn't sneak into Sandy's party and steal them? That's very naughty Mr Shoe!"

"Come along Brittany, let's get you somewhere warm and then sober you up," Will said gently as he herded a swaying drunk teenager into the car. "Why did you go to a party when you had school tomorrow?" he asked sternly once they were in the car and on the road.

"Artie called me stupid and I was upset and so Santana said this would cheer me up so I went along with it."

"Artie called you stupid? That doesn't sound like him. And you shouldn't do everything Santana says, I know she means well but she isn't always right."

"Artie doesn't believe Santana tells the truth either," Brittany said sadly, "why does everyone think Santana is bad when really she's very nice?"

"Santana...she has...well an attitude that makes people upset and angry. No one can see past that attitude and so they don't see her nice side. Artie probably just sees the mean Santana, that's all," Will explained.

"Doesn't mean he can call me stupid though," Brittany mumbled.

"No," Will agreed, "it doesn't."

GLEEGLEEGLEEGLEE

Will dragged out the duvet and pillow that he kept solely for the drunken teenagers. By the time he got back into the living room Brittany had 'lost' her skirt and tights and was on her way to losing her shirt too.

"Brittany put your clothes back on!" Will shouted as he quickly used the pillow to hide the half naked blond from his eyes.

"But Mr Shoe!" she was pouting. He knew she was pouting though he wasn't looking at her because he had pouting radar. Spending years being Terri's lover had gifted him with pouting radar, he could tell just by the voice a woman uses that they're pouting, Rachel Berry had helped fine tune it after he left Terri. "All the boys like it when I take my clothes off."

"Well I don't," Will said firmly.

It would be just what he needed on top of every other crappy thing in his life if Sue caught hold off this and got him on the black list for having 'sexual relations' with a student.

"Would you prefer it if I called Kurt and asked him to take his clothes off for you?" Brittany asked innocently.

"NO!" Will snapped. Good god, what is wrong with these kids? Are they all doing it with everyone and assuming those who don't are gay? "Put your clothes back on Brittany."

"I wish Artie was here. He would help me take my bra off before helping me put my clothes on," Brittany said sadly.

Urgh, teenagers and their hormones. "Come here Brittany," Will said gently. He was careful to not look at her when he buttoned her shirt up and helped her into her skirt. She stumbled and staggered all over the place before he managed to get her to lie down on the sofa. He draped the blanket over her and was about to go when she grabbed his hand.

"Tell me a story, Mr Shoe," she pleaded. "About princesses and shoes."

"Erm...ok..." he didn't have the heart to say no. She was looking at him with big pleading blue eyes that made her appear a good ten years younger. He didn't really know fairy tales much so he thought to make his own up. "Once Upon a time lived seven very different princesses. One was very bossy but sang like an angel and had a heart of gold, one was beautiful and virtuous but desired to be liked by all and that blinded her, one was cold and mean but deep down was only a scared little girl, one was a very shy quiet girl who was locked up, and another was a powerful beautiful woman, while the last but not least was a happy special child. These princesses were all missing their shoes and princes, so a magic wizard decided to bring them all together and sing about it, their beautiful voices attracted six handsome princes who all wanted to sing as well. One prince was bound in a wheelchair due to an evil witches curse, one was very naughty, and one did not like princesses and desired to dress up like one instead, while the other three were very shy in their own ways. The princes loved all the princesses in different ways and decided to make them all happy by buying them beautiful shoes made out of stars. They searched wide and far and worked all night and all day to get these seven pairs of shoes. With these magical shoes the princesses danced and sang better than ever and won the Nationals in a singing competition making them happy ever after. The end."

He really hopes that Sue had stopped bugging his apartment. He would never live this pathetic story made up on the spot down if she ever found out about it.

"Mmm...That's a nice story," Brittany mumbled. "Thank you Mr Schue..."

It was a sign that Brittany had sobered up a little. He was glad; he wasn't sure how much stripping he could take before he went insane.

"You're welcome Brittany, good night."

"Night..."

Instead of going to bed Will went out to search for Brittany's shoes. He found them on the mini golf course balanced on one of the seven dwarfs head. When he snuck back in he left them by the sofa with a little note that he hurriedly scribbled out.

_To the Happy Princess, they might not be made out of stars but they are shoes, keep on dancing and singing. From the Magical Wizard. _

He will deny everything if Sue confronts him for being 'soft' and 'sappy'.


End file.
